Le Tuan Minh tops HDBank chess tournament after sixth round

Le Tuan Minh of Vietnam (L) ranks third after fifth round of the HDBank Chess Open (Source: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – International Master Le Tuan Minh defeated Grandmaster
Gordievsky Dmitry of Russia at the HDBank International Chess Open Tournament’s
sixth-round match in Hanoi on March 13 to replace his rival at the top
position.

The
22-year-old master, who is seeded No.22 with the elo 2,489, was considered
inferior to No.5 seed Dmitry, as his elo rating was nearly 200 points lower
than the Russian, who won all his games ahead of their meet.

However,
he forced Dmitry to surrender after 54 moves.

With
5.5 points after six matches, Minh is one of the three players who have not
lost yet. Two others are No.2 seed GM Wang Hao of China and No.4 seed GM Mareco
Sandro of Argentina.

He
will play Wang in the next match.

Also in the sixth
round, Vietnam’s GM Le Quang Liem, who is seeded No.1, drew India’s Erigasi
Arjun. Liem has 4.5 points after six matches.

After seven editions in Ho Chi Minh City, this is the first time the HDBank Cup
International Open Chess tournament has been held in Hanoi. It is the biggest
professional chess tourney in Vietnam and Southeast Asia and a competition in
the World Chess Federation’s system.

The event, scheduled
to last through March 15, attracted about 270 players from 21 countries and
territories. It offers a total of 55,000 USD in prizes, an increase of about 20
percent compared to last year.-VNA